Majority of Americans Believe Social Media Sites Censor Political Views

A new study released by the Pew Research Center shows that a majority of Americans believe it is likely that social media sites censor political views. A majority of both Democrats and Republicans believe social media sites censor political viewpoints.

According to the Pew study, 72 percent of Americans believe that it is likely social media sites “intentionally censor political viewpoints they find objectionable.” Of those who lean Republican, 85 percent of respondents claimed it is likely that social media sites censor objectionable political viewpoints, compared to 62 percent of Democrats.

Broken down further, 54 percent of Republicans said it is “very likely” that social media sites intentionally suppress political views and 32 percent said it is “somewhat likely” the tech companies crack down on objectionable political views. Of Democrats, 20 percent said it is “very likely” the social media sites intentionally censor objectionable political views, while 42 said it is “somewhat likely.” For all respondents, 35 percent said it is “very likely” social media sites censor objectionable views, while 37 percent said it is “somewhat likely.”

When it comes to which political views are likely censored, Democrats and Republicans disagree.

A majority of Republicans said they believe social media companies “support the views” of liberals over conservatives, with 64 percent of Republicans claiming that’s the case. For those identified as Democrats, 53 percent of respondents said the major tech firms support both sides equally. The poll found 43 percent of all respondents believe that tech companies support liberal views over conservative ones:

The survey of 4,594 respondents was conducted between May 29-June 11, 2018. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.